Eu Rejects Dumping Duty On Cotton Fabrics

The European Union (EU) has rejected the European Commissions (EC) move to slap modified anti-dumping duty on exports of unbleached cotton grey fabrics from India and five other countries, industry sources said quoting reports from Brazil.

The council of EU ministers refused to entertain the modified duty, proposed at the initiative of France, at its meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, the sources said.

It comes as a big relief to India as its exports of unbleached cotton grey fabrics to European nations amount to Rs 650 crore annually.

The EC had imposed provisional anti-dumping duty ranging between 15.9 and 17.5 on unbleached cotton grey fabrics exports from India. The duty was made definite from March 15, though it was reduced to 15.3 per cent at the lower level and 17.2 per cent at the higher level.

 

Besides India, the countries against whom the duty was slammed were Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Turkey and Egypt.

The EC had time till May 20 to get the duty ratified by the 15-member EU council of ministers but it was rejected on May 15 with nine countries opposing the duty and six favouring it.

Following this, the EC, at the initiative of French president Jacques Chirac came out with a modified plan as per which, it said, the duty would be imposed for one year instead of five years and it would reviewed next year.

Industry sources said despite two rounds of discussions on May 16, the EU council of ministers failed to reach an agreement.